HP A7533A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch Base, Administrator'S Manual

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Fabric OS 6.2 administrator guide 495
22 FICON fabrics
Fabric OS support for FICON
IBM Fibre Connection (FICON
®
) is an industry-standard, high-speed input/output (I/O) interface for
mainframe connections to storage devices. Fabric OS supports intermix mode operations, in which FICON
and Fibre Channel technology work together. For specific information about intermix mode and other
aspects of FICON, see the IBM Redbook, FICON® Implementation Guide (SG24-6497-01), and
Implementing an IBM/Brocade SAN with 8 Gbps Directors and Switches (SG24-6116-08).
The following Fabric OS standard features support FICON fabrics:
• Port swapping
Redirects resources from a failed port to a healthy port without changing the FICON host configuration.
Port swapping is available for both FICON and open system environments. Port swapping resolves
situations in which the hardware has failed and the channel configurations cannot be changed quickly.
Port swapping has minimal or no impact on other switch features.
• Insistent domain ID (IDID)
Allows the switch to insist on a specific domain ID before joining a fabric. This feature guarantees that
a switch operates only with its preassigned domain ID.
• The FICON MIB module
Addresses link incident data for FICON hosts and devices connected to a switch. It supplements other
MIBs used to manage switches and should be used in conjunction with those other MIBs. For more
information, see the Fabric OS MIB Reference .
• Link incident detection, registration, and reporting
Provides administrative and diagnostic information.
• Switch connection control (SCC) policy
Includes switch binding security methods that prevent unauthorized devices from joining a fabric.
The following Brocade management tools provide further support:
• Data Center Fabric Manager
Data Center Fabric Manager is an optional software program that can be used to manage a fabric that
supports FICON and FCP devices and traffic. This is the recommended GUI management tool for
FICON environments on B-series enterprise-class switches.
• Web Tools
Web Tools is an embedded GUI management tool that can be used to manage a director (switch) that
supports FICON and Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) devices and traffic.
• Enterprise Fabric Connectivity Manager (EFCM)
EFCM 9.7 is a GUI management tool for managing SANs and is available for installation on a
management server. This is the recommended GUI management tool for FICON environments on B-
and M-series enterprise-class switches. For more information on EFCM see the EFC Manager Software
User Manual.
NOTE: Some licenses are installed and activated on the switch at the factory. Use one of the management
interfaces above to verify that the required licenses are installed and activated on the switch.
Secure Access Control List (ACL)
provides the
following fabric, switch, and port binding features:
• Fabric binding is a security method for restricting switches within a multiple-switch fabric. The SCC
policy prevents unauthorized switches from joining a fabric.
• Switch binding is a security method for restricting devices that connect to a particular switch. If the
device is another switch, this is handled by the SCC policy. If the device is a host or storage device, the
Device Connection Control (DCC) policy binds those devices to a particular switch. Policies range from
completely restrictive to reasonably flexible, based upon customer needs.